business@tribunemedia.net
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
$5.25 $4.90
$5.28
$5.34
‘All hands on deck’: Fidelity catch-up bid for $18m profit By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BISX-listed bank was last night said to have placed “all hands on deck” in a bid to recover lost ground and match 2024’s full-year profitability, with its top executive asserting: “We will certainly not be accepting less than $18m graciously.” Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business the commercial lender is seeking to catch up by maximising the opportunities presented by merchant demand and higher consumer spending in the Christmas run-up after net income for the nine months to end-September 2025 declined by just over 10 percent year-over-year.
• Bank: ‘We’ll not accept anything less graciously’ • BISX-listed lender’s net income off 10% to-date • ‘Can’t be business as usual’ on spending value Despite “all the revenue targets being achieved”, with fee and commission income ahead of 2024 comparatives by “almost 20 percent” for the first three quarters, the BISX-listed bank’s $1m-plus
growth in total income failed to keep pace with increased payroll and general and administrative expenses. Total expenses for the nine months to end-September were some $2.5m or 7.3 percent ahead of 2024, standing at $36.701m compared to $34.202m in the prior year, and Mr Bowe told this newspaper that “it cannot be business as usual relative to value proposition and money spent”. He added that Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) has to examine “how best to get value out of expenditure”, and its investments in extra staff and systems in a bid to generate “new lines of business” that are designed to lead to greater profitability and sustainable shareholder returns. Asserting that “none of the expenditure has been wasteful;
it’s all been purposeful, Mr Bowe acknowledged that - while there was likely to be “some concern” among investors over the ninemonth performance - these should be “allayed” by the fact there were no one-off or “irregular” drivers of the 2025 year-to-date results. And he asserted that the near$13m profits for the nine months to end-September 2025 are still more than sufficient to meet, and pay out, the dividends expected by shareholders without impacting the bank’s capital base and regulatory requirements set by the Central Bank. Speaking after profits for the year’s first three quarters dropped by around $1.434m, from $14.158m during the same period in 2024 to $12.724m, Mr Bowe said of the bottom-line goals: “Our first upside for the year was
Bahamas is Caribbean ‘innovation leader’ but challenged over skills • IDB: Nation ‘outperforms’ on innovative firms • But held back by qualification, labour issues • Task Force gets similar concerns ‘like crazy’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas is “outperforming” and “leading the region” through the number of local companies deemed to be “innovative”, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is asserting, although their growth is hindered by a lack of suitably-skilled workers, market size and financing challenges. Dr Jose Luis Saboin, in an IDB presentation dated November 19, 2025, asserted that the presence of 1,381 firms considered “innovative” by a Compete Caribbean Partnership survey placed The Bahamas ahead of Caribbean rivals. This nation was also cited as outpacing the region for companies viewed as “potentially innovative” from an environmental or ‘green’
standpoint with these entities numbering 1,434. “The Bahamas is outperforming the region in the presence of innovative firms,” the presentation asserted. “Bahamian firms are leading the region on innovation.” However, this nation was ranked slightly behind the rest of the Caribbean on “potentially innovative” firms and “digital innovation.” And “innovative” firms in The Bahamas are facing similar constraints to their growth and development as Caribbean counterparts.
For already-innovative firms in The Bahamas and the region, close to 80 percent cited small market sizes as their biggest challenge, while while more than 60 percent highlighted the problems posed by the “qualifications of employees” or lack of them. More than 40 percent of “innovative” Bahamian companies complained they are held back by a labour force “that lacks the skills required for innovation”, while financing, the level of available financial
resources and perceived risks were lesser concerns. As for “potentially innovative firms”, the impediments faced in The Bahamas were again similar to the wider Caribbean. Close to 90 percent of such companies in both The Bahamas and the Caribbean cited the “qualification of employees” as the greatest challenge, while 80 percent also mentioned a lack of financial resources. A similar percentage also highlighted their national market size, or lack of it, while almost 60 percent of “potentially innovative” Bahamian firms fingered concerns that the “labour force lacks the skills required for innovation”. Peter Goudie, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers
DEVELOP - See Page B4
‘Stay tuned for next move’ over salaries, teachers told By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A TRADE union leader yesterday warned her members to “stay tuned for the next move” as she asserted that the Government has yet to respond to concerns over this month’s planned salary and increment increases for line staff civil servants. Belinda Wilson, the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) president, said in a voice note that she is still awaiting the results of a survey recently issued to members regarding potential industrial action and a strike vote. Once the results are received, all will be informed and any next steps will be considered. “I am still awaiting the results of the survey that was sent to our members regarding, first, taking industrial action and, second, a strike vote. Once we receive the results we will inform all members,” said Mrs Wilson. She argued that the Davis administration has yet to respond to the letter herself and Kimsley Ferguson, the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) president, delivered to the Office of the Prime Minister on October 15 outlining their grievances and concerns. “Let me be clear, however, that neither I, Belinda Wilson, nor BPSU
RESPONSE - See Page B6
BELINDA WILSON
PHILIP DAVIS KC
Statistical Institute constraints creating ‘credibility’ challenge By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ main economic data provider is facing challenges to maintain its “credibility and independence” due to resource constraints such as “significant” staffing issues, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has warned. The multilateral lender, in unveiling a $150,000 project to strengthen the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI), said that the agency established by law in 2021 to oversee The Bahamas’ national statistical system faces numerous obstacles in its quest to consistently produce timely, accurate and high-quality data that government policymakers can rely
on for getting decisions and planning right. The IDB, in documents obtained by Tribune Business, describes these impediments as the failure to implement governance mechanisms such as the National Statistics Committee, which would oversee data gathering; the absence of a national statistical strategy; an “under-developed” technology infrastructure; and personnel constraints. Carl Oliver, the Ministry of Finance’s deputy director of economic planning, wrote in a December 19, 2024, letter to the IDB that addressing these challenges and boosting the reliability of official statistics provided to policymakers “is a priority for the Government of The Bahamas”.
OBSTACLES - See Page B4
$5.28
GOWON BOWE to hit the same $18m last year and then move to $20m. “What we found in the third quarter were that all the positive elements… all the revenue targets were being achieved. We saw the actual fees and commissions, with the growth of value-added services - merchants services and cards - that increased almost 20 percent year-over-year for the first nine months. “Then we also saw the stabilisation of net interest income because we replaced some of the loan interest income with
INCREASE - See Page B4
Andros lodge’s Xmas closure on ‘really scary slow’ bookings By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net AN Andros fishing lodge will close for Christmas due to a “scary” slow season that its operator yesterday blamed on global economic forces. Cheryl Bastian, proprietor of Swain’s Cay Lodge, said business volumes for the property - which re-opened at the beginning of this month - have been “extremely slow” especially in comparison to previous years. She added that colleagues across The Bahamas have voiced similar complaints. “It’s really, really scary slow,” Ms Bastian said. “Typically it starts October. People start to trickle in. But November is usually pretty much a medium month. Like you could do well, and do about 40, 45 percent or even more, [for] some hotels. But in the fishing industry, for November, it's very slow. And I'm finding the same feedback from my colleagues in the industry in Andros and other islands.” Noting that a Christmas closure is not normal for her lodge, Ms Bastian said she
has made the decision to shut for the festive season. “We would have some families that might want to stay,” Ms Bastian said. “But even that, I'm not getting that inquiry. I had one or two inquiries, but it didn’t pan out. So even for Christmas, it's slow - very slow. “I think one room sold. It's very slow. And I regret that I had sold that because you have to take care of them and, by the time you service everything, you really just break even. But Thanksgiving is normally; a slow period for the fishing industry. Once it opens in November, it goes until just before Thanksgiving, because Americans tend to like to be at home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. “So with the first part of November, usually the last part, early December, is usually a bit more vibrant. But I'm not finding that. So I've actually taken the decision to close for Christmas and give my staff and myself a break for a change.” Ms Bastian, explaining that her business his heavily reliant on US visitors, added that the downward turn in guests coming to her lodge
SHUT - See Page B4